The People's Republic of Erin has asked me to please refrain from making threats against its sovereign properties, and from condoning those made by others against same. I demur.

In other news I just sent my proof of life, those very important documents which confirm my status as a real human being in the world, my passport, to the commies. What a great world this is! I'm nervous about traveling there. I mean just because it's such a big place, and again I won't speak a word of the language. And I don't have any clear plan. And I don't know how much money I'll have or how long I can stay or where I'm going or how I'll get there or wh... relax. Relax.

Getting small things done helps. A kind of capillary action, like the condensation and freezing of water under a granite face. Slowly. Of course, it's also possible that I'm transferring my post-return anxieties onto this trip, and thus deliberately making IT seem impossible instead of all the things I have to do when I get home and before I leave.

But really in either case I should relax and focus, just like when I came here. Again the same observations: The road's never been clear. It's always been a mountain path we follow in the dark; this moon just shows me our common position. But one foot still goes in front of the other. See? Easy.

Just put your feet down, child. The water is only waist high.

In other news: Reading "The Boxer Rebellion" by Dianna Preston for a nice look at the hospitality afforded foreigners in China. I know that looking for parallels in history makes for some pretty facile comparisons, but I still can't help but think how turn-of-the-century China, beset by foreign powers at odds with each other themselves and vastly ignorant and reproachful of China's religions and customs, but nonetheless ready to dice her up, resembles a certain other world situation...